AxL Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 I recently finished a 1/2" burner build (see the Linear forge burner plans thread), and I'm looking to build a simple brick pile forge for it. My goal isn't forging as such, just hardening steel. I have a few 9x4.5x1" heavy fire bricks, what would be the best way to stack them? I understand there is a certain ratio between the of volume of the forge vs the size of the burner, what size would the forge need to be for a 1/2" burner? Should it be lined with refractory cement? I assume there are many other things I haven't thought of, feel free to enlighten me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonkeyForge Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 A 1/2 inch burner will bring 150 cubic inch in a well insulated forge up to welding heat 2458.06 cubic cm for us in metric land, or a little under 2.5 liters. the dense fire brick is not insulating and will take some time to soak up heat. For hat treating you will not need welding heat so for starting out the hard brick will at least contain the fire. (I use a hard brick pile for testing burners) You could use a reflective coating on the brick or just use as is for now and order other materials later. How you stack the bricks kind of depends on the size and shape of the work piece. you will need an opening for the work to go in and you will need a chamber to contain the fire. The beauty of brick piles is that you can restack in different configurations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danjmath Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 I'm glad you asked this. I am in almost the exact same situation. I built a pizza oven not long ago and have some left over heavy duty fire brick. I thought about using refractory cement, but that seems like in doing that, you loose the advantage of being able to re-stack the bricks. I did the frosty 3/4" t-burner, and eventually plan on building a propane-tank-type forge, but until then planned on using a firebrick one. Hopefully this isn't hi-jacking too much, but what is the best way to mount the burner on a brick-pile forge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey98118 Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 You will want to drill a hole, with a carbide incrusted hole saw through one of the bricks (Harbor Freight tools), or pour a "brick" with a hole in it from refractory. You can buy small amounts of castable refractory from Wayne Coe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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